I've got everything ready to go (almost) to fire up the old girl after a long time on the jack. I did top end work, removed and inspected tranny, oil pump, put a new clutch in, etc...

I want to be sure I haven't overlooked anything before putting fire in the cylinders. I figured I'd tap the enormous wealth of knowledge on this great forum.

Somewhere I read (on a forum) about a guy with a '91 trying to "prime" his oil pump.

I didn't think that was even a thing, but thought I'd be safe and look through my FSM. Nowhere do I see any procedure for "priming" the oil pump.

Is this a legit procedure? If so, where do I find information about it?
Is it something that older (pre-1993) Sportsters needed?
Do I need to worry about priming my oil pump?

 

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I went ahead and cranked her up over the weekend. No priming necessary. Oil circulated just fine.

 

I guess everyone was out having fun, this forum is not exactly a barn burner you know There are probably ways to prime the pump and even the whole system but all I know about is to fill the oil filter before you install it and when you fill the oil tank I think some oil will go to the lower part of the engine. If the pump does not pick up oil almost immediately I would think it was a sign of worn out pump.

 

Sometimes they get air locked when you take off the lines. Priming is simply removing the front section (feed, or oil pressure switch) and very very shortly run the engine until a little oil comes out. Just running the starter a few times works for me.

 

Yeah, I figured I was the only one NOT out riding.